What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(118)

“Help her stop it,” Caldris said.

I could hear the panic in his voice even as my sight glazed over. Bright white flooded my vision, blinding me to his plight as his chest pressed into my back, shielding me from view. The spectacle we’d created was at risk, but I suspected there were far greater things to worry about.

“Estrella, look at me. Look at me, sweetheart,” Imelda said, the gentle tone in her voice setting what remained of my nerves on fire.

Worry slipped through my fingers. Only the spark of golden threads surrounded me. I couldn’t find Imelda, couldn’t focus on her face when she was lost to me.

The man from my dreams emerged from the light, stepping through the threads. His golden eyes sparkled with worry as he leaned in front of me. Imelda’s voice still pleaded with me in the background, as if she couldn’t see the beautiful man who’d stepped out of the light. Shadows clung to him, protecting him from the brightness as he leaned over me.

I couldn’t detach from reality, couldn’t silence the worried voice of my mate trying to pull me out of the haze that had claimed me. I saw myself standing between Caldris and Imelda, the latter chanting with her eyes closed as she tried to draw me back to myself.

In the same breath, I saw myself kneeling at the feet of the man with the golden eyes. There was something familiar about the curve of his mouth, about the bow of his lips, even as they pressed tightly with worry.

He reached out gently, grasping me by the chin and tilting my head back so that he could meet my stare.

“You’ve taken too much,” he said. There was sympathy in his voice, something soft hidden in the words. As if he understood the pain of burning from the inside, knew the fire that lit my blood and made me want to die.

“Make it stop,” I begged, shaking my head from side to side. I would have cried, but my body was lit aflame so thoroughly that the tears would have dried the moment they touched my skin.

That pulsing golden light seemed to glow brighter, sparkling off my skin as I whimpered.

“Give it to me,” the man said, holding out his other hand. I hesitated, meeting his gaze as I held onto the power that threatened to consume me. I couldn’t give it away, not knowing that it could be used to commit true horrors.

“I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t know who the man was or how he appeared to me so often.

“You can,” he said, waving subtly. The threads hanging through the air swayed as if he’d stroked them, responding to his motion with a casualness that could only be natural. “You have taken something from me. Something that does not belong to you. All you need to do is give it back, Estrella.”

“How do I know it’s really yours?” I asked, lurching forward as the burning within me touched my heart. Caldris groaned beside me, the sound of his voice breaking through the haze.

“Like calls to like,” the man said, lowering to his knees in front of me. He stared at me across the small space between us, sliding the sharp point of one of his nails across his palm as he held it out to me.

The blood that flowed from his wound wasn’t red, but the thick, viscous molten gold. It slid across his skin slowly, painting him with the color as he moved his hand and it trickled down to his wrist.

“Who are you?” I asked, staring at the blood in fixation.

The subtle hints of gold in mine were nothing compared to the vibrance of his.

He touched his thumb to the spot under my eye where tears would have fallen, the coolness of his blood coating my skin.

“I am your father, Estrella,” he said, his voice staying gentle as I swayed forward involuntarily. “You’ve been so brave, but I need you to fight for just a while longer.”

He took my hand in his, slicing my palm open with the same nail. My blood slid across my skin.

“At least tell me your name,” I said, feeling the power slip from me. He pressed our hands together, taking what was his back as I withered. That loss of power drained me, leaving me feeling weak in comparison.

“The day for you to know who I am will come soon enough,” he said, pushing to his feet as the haze began to fade. “It was nice to have a few moments where you do not hate me first.”

“Wait—” I protested, pushing to my feet as the haze slammed down upon me.

He vanished into the ballroom, the white light gone as I stared back and forth between Imelda and Caldris. Imelda nodded to my mate, signaling that the burning had passed as she touched a tentative hand to my face.

My mate sighed in relief, pressing his mouth against my forehead. He didn’t waste another moment, turning and guiding me toward the doors to the ballroom. We left, escaping the mix of chaos and revelry around us.

Humans danced at the center of the ballroom where Mab had once stood, their feet slipping in the blood upon the stone. Their movements were sluggish, as if they’d danced for hours but couldn’t stop.

I stumbled as Caldris led me out the doors.

The humans wouldn’t survive until morning—would dance until they died.





43


Estrella


Caldris grasped my hand as soon as we emerged from the throne room, using the distraction of Mab’s severed flesh to our advantage.

“We have to go. Now,” he said, his voice urgent.

“I won’t leave you here,” I said, knowing exactly how much he would suffer at Mab’s hands if I fled in the night after the display I’d just shown. We’d played our hand too soon, come on too strong with the magic I barely had control over. Even now, having cut Mab’s hand from her flesh, it still strove to take her head, to watch that crown clatter to the floor and stride over to claim it for myself.